Brian De Palma directs John Lithgow, Lolita Davidovich and Steven Bauer in this meta-thriller where a child psychologist lives a life of multiple personalities, some deadly; meanwhile his wife rekindles an affair.

Batshit mental… but a lorra lorra of larks. I haven’t watched this in over 30 years but nearly all of the tricksy, showy showy set pieces have remained lodged in my memory banks ever since then. It is a strong flavour. You really need to not care about the plot and traditional, rational, storytelling to enjoy it. De Palma revisits Hitchcock’s Psycho and Vertigo and his own Dressed To Kill and just dicks around in them relentlessly. We get a dream sequence full of shocks and reboots. A finale that flat-out remixes one of his finest set pieces in The Untouchables. And that Steadicam exposition scene, where even the expert gets lost in the physical twists and turns, is a hoot. So Raising Cain is an exercise, is pure celluloid tomfoolery, with nothing new to say. I reckon if this was your first De Palma experience it would either blow you away or turn you off him for life. It makes for a discombobulating Saturday night. And Davidovich and Lithgow are really good sports throughout.

7

Perfect Double Bill: In the Cut (2003)

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We also do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/